Founder notes · Oct 18, 2026

How We Run Unresourced With a Small Team

No big agency staff, no account-manager layers. Here is how a small team runs outreach, gifting, creator vetting and reporting, and the rules that keep quality high.

By Dylan Goodrich, founder of Unresourced

I'm Dylan Goodrich. I'm a creator, and I run Unresourced, the anti-agency agency: creators get real support and keep their freedom, with no non-compete and no exclusivity, and brands get creator content that is built to be tested and scaled.

People assume there's a big staff behind that. There isn't. Unresourced runs on a small team with clear lanes and a few habits we don't skip. None of it depends on a particular piece of software. It depends on structure. Here's exactly how it works, in case it helps you run your own creator business or brand program.

1. Every job has one owner

The fastest way to send a brand two different pitches in one afternoon is to have two people "helping" with the same inbox. So every recurring job has exactly one owner:

• Outreach. One person owns brand and partner pitches and every follow-up. They are the voice of the company in the inbox.
• Gifting programs. One person tracks which brands run PR and gifting programs, what they ask for, and where each request stands.
• Creators. One person owns the roster: applications, vetting and who is a fit for which brief.
• Builds and research. One person owns the website, the dashboard and the research dives behind our guides.

I own strategy, the brand relationships that need a founder, and the final yes. Overlap is where mixed messages come from, so we don't allow it.

2. Outreach runs on a list, not a mood

Brand outreach is a numbers game only if the numbers are clean. Before anything goes out, the list is deduplicated against everything we've already sent, checked against a do-not-contact list, and cleaned of bounced addresses. One brand gets one pitch, sent to a real person where we can find one, and followed up on a schedule instead of whenever someone remembers.

Pitches are short and specific: who we are, what we'd make for that brand, and one clear next step. If a brand says no or asks us to stop, that's final, and the address goes on the do-not-contact list the same day.

3. Gifting programs are tracked like a pipeline

A lot of creator growth starts with product. We keep a running list of brands that run PR and gifting programs (it's the basis of our gifting directory), and every request moves through the same stages: found, applied, approved, shipped, posted. That way nothing sits in limbo and every creator knows what's coming. If you're new to this, our guide on how to get free products from brands walks through the honest version.

4. Creators are vetted before they're pitched

We'd rather send a brand three right creators than thirty random ones. Every creator is checked for the basics before they're matched to a brief: real, recent content in the niche, an audience that fits, clean comment sections, on-camera comfort, and a history of delivering on time. Fit beats follower count. A creator with a small, focused audience and great hooks often outperforms a big account that doesn't match the product.

5. Nothing leaves without an approval

This is the rule that matters most. Anything that goes outside the company, an email to a new brand, a post, a page on the site, a contract, a purchase, gets checked before it goes out. Big batches are split up so they move fast, but every batch passes a quality check first: the right names, the right links, no duplicates, nothing promised that we can't deliver. Speed means nothing without that gate.

The honest version: I don't manage people the old way. I manage a system, and I approve what leaves it.

6. Reporting is weekly and boring on purpose

Every week we look at the same short set of numbers: pitches sent, replies, brands approved for gifting, creators onboarded, content delivered, and what's blocked. Same format every time, so trends are obvious and nobody has to dig. Between those reviews, I get a short update in the morning and the evening: what shipped, what needs me, what's next. My days stay clear for creating and closing.

7. Everyone checks everyone's work

We audit each other on purpose. The person who owns outreach doesn't grade their own sends; someone else spot-checks them against the list and the do-not-contact rules. The site gets a second pair of eyes before every update. A mistake caught internally costs minutes. A mistake a brand catches costs trust.

All of this lives in one shared team thread. Handoffs, status checks and asks go there, so context never gets lost between people. If it isn't in the thread, it didn't happen.

Why this beats a traditional agency

A traditional agency sells you headcount: junior account managers, reply-all chains and weekly status calls where nothing gets decided. A small team with clear owners sells outcomes. Fewer handoffs, less telephone, nobody waiting on someone else's calendar, and a quality gate that catches problems before a client ever sees them.

Steal the system

• Give every recurring job one owner.
• Clean your list before you send, every time.
• Track gifting like a sales pipeline.
• Vet for fit, not follower count.
• Approve everything that leaves the building.
• Report the same numbers every week.
• Have someone else check your work.